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Charles Spurgeon and Joseph Parker both had churches in London in the 19th century. On one occasion, Parker commented on the poor condition of children admitted to Spurgeon's orphanage. It was reported to Spurgeon however, that Parker had criticized the orphanage itself. Spurgeon blasted Parker the next week from the pulpit. The attack was printed in the newspapers and became the talk of the town. People flocked to Parker's church the next Sunday to hear his rebuttal. "I understand Dr. Spurgeon is not in his pulpit today, and this is the Sunday they use to take an offering for the orphanage. I suggest we take a love offering here instead." The crowd was delighted. The ushers had to empty the collection plates 3 times. Later that week there was a knock at Parker's study. It was Spurgeon. "You know Parker, you have practiced grace on me. You have given me not what I deserved, you have given me what I needed." (Moody Monthly, December, 1983, p. 81.)

Let's look at this story from Matthew 20.

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a  denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and to those he said, "You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you." And so they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, "Why have you been standing here idle all day long?" They said to him, "Because no one hired us." He said to them, "You go into the vineyard too." When evening came, the  owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, "Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first."
When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, "These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day." But he answered and said to one of them, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?" So the last shall be first, and the first last.

The tension in this story is due to conflicting paradigms; the human realm of thought vs. the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven. The human mindset is related to works; we strive to earn our place in society and with God. At the center of this struggle is sin. We were created to be in relationship with God, and that became impossible when sin entered the world. We were forced to be separated from Him, because He is holy and can’t be around sin. Habakkuk 1:13 speaks of God’s purity, and how His eyes cannot look on evil. Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear (NIV).” When Adam and Eve sinned, mankind was separated from God. Enter Old Testament law; a comprehensive set of rules and regulations that God set in place to protect the people of Israel Because of this separation, God had to introduce laws as a way to cover our sin so we could be in relationship with Him. But the purpose from the very beginning was relationship. The regulations, such as sacrificing and so forth, were a “temporary fix” to cover our sins so that we could still be in relationship with Him.  But somewhere along the lines, the relationship was lost and we began to focus only on the rules and laws themselves. So we began to do it on our own; we began to try to find our own ways to fill the void our separation from God left. If sin had never entered the world, we never would have had to DO anything to be fully in relationship with Him. Striving and earning is a concept that we understand as humans, because we had to create our own way to feel validated and accomplished. Because of this, it’s difficult to understand that God works outside of our laws. He isn’t governed by time, science, or humanity. The human paradigm says we need rules so we can properly measure whether we’re achieving our goals but Heaven’s paradigm tells us a very different story.

The opposing paradigm in this story is the reality of the kingdom. God, as the creator of all things, exists outside of human reality, and therefore is not governed by laws and rules like we are. Because He created us, and longs to be in relationship with us, he sent his Son to die and redeem us from our sins so that relationship could be possible. Jesus was the Ultimate Sacrifice, the end to our human laws and works and doings. He loves us completely and perfectly; nothing we can do will make Him love us more. The kingdom reality says that we need to be covered by Jesus’ blood so that we can once again be restored to Him.  Period.  It doesn’t matter if we have served him our entire lives, or if we come to Him in the last hour; He loves us the same. There are no hierarchies in Heaven; that is an earthly concept. While it is possible that some may acquire more “treasures in Heaven (Luke 18:22)”, it does not make anyone more deserving of grace, or of a higher value than others. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (NASB).” Because we are all less than perfect, we are all equally in need of forgiveness. Like a father loves his children, He loves us all equally but uniquely.

In the end, just like in the parable, kingdom reality trumps human reality. No matter how hard we try to earn the favour of God and each other; there’s nothing we can do to earn grace.